The invention relates to a method for wireless exchange of device information between a control unit of a motor vehicle and a vehicle-external stationary computing device by establishing a mobile radio connection between a mobile radio module of the motor vehicle and a radio station of a mobile radio cell coupled to the computing device and transmitting the device data over the mobile radio connection.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
The ability to flexibly configure systems in motor vehicles has in conjunction with the continually falling cost of semiconductor memory led to a shift in the tasks from development to production of a motor vehicle in the following manner: While different variants of control units were initially developed for the various applications, modern control unit concepts provide a universal hardware basis, which can be flexibly configured for the particular application by using a suitable device. In this context, one differentiates between three different possibilities, namely encoding, parameterizing and flashing. With encoding, software switches are set to activate or deactivate certain parts of the application stored in the control unit or to inactive. Parameterizing includes loading of parameter lists and/or characteristic curves. Finally, with flashing of control units, either the complete application or parts thereof are loaded into the control unit and stored therein.
This approach significantly simplifies the provision of parts in production through logistics, because a smaller staging area is required at the assembly line and the worker needs to install a smaller number of variants. This reduces the likelihood of errors, and a control unit can be configured automatically, avoiding that workers are occupied with these tasks.
However, the fault-free operation of complex electronic systems requires the elimination of mistakes during the assembly process. This requirement is generally not met for manual assembly processes. In other words, there is a potential risk for installation errors. In order to still achieve the required quality targets, such processes must be protected by suitable tests.
This vehicle diagnosis is therefore performed in a wired configuration by using multichannel diagnostic communication. The communication with the higher-level host computer, i.e. with a central computing device for supplying the test device occurs wirelessly, for example via WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) for the IT infrastructure of production, i.e. in particular its data network. The exchange of data on this radio connection is directed in particular to the vehicle equipment data, test programs including test parameters and the test result data for quality and statistical systems.
It is known in the art to establish a wireless connection to an internal vehicle module for data exchange of device data of vehicle control units. This eliminates the need for connecting a diagnostic device with a WLAN module to the motor vehicle. However, by using a radio connection, the transmission capacity disadvantageously depends on a current utilization of the radio cell and is therefore unreliable. An integration of this transmission technology in a manufacturing and/or servicing process of a motor vehicle is therefore risky.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide an improved method and device for reliably exchanging wirelessly in a service facility and/or on factory premises device data between control units of motor vehicles and a vehicle-external central computing device of the service facility and/or the factory premises.